2012 Los Angeles Sparks season

2012 Los Angeles Sparks season
Coach	Carol Ross
Arena	Staples Center
Attendance	per game
Results
Record	24–10 (.706)
Place	2nd (Western)
Playoff finish	Lost in Conference Finals
Media
Television	KDOC, TWC101 ESPN2, NBATV
← 2011 season 2013 season →

The 2012 Los Angeles Sparks season was the franchise's 16th season in the Women's National Basketball Association, and the first season under head coach Carol Ross. The season tipped off on May 18, 2012, at Keyarena versus the Seattle Storm and ended on September 15 against the Minnesota Lynx.

Transactions

WNBA draft

The following are the Sparks' selections in the 2012 WNBA draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/team/country
1	1	Nneka Ogwumike	United States	Stanford
2	13 (from Tul.)	Farhiya Abdi	Sweden	Frisco Sika (Czech Republic)
2	15 (from Chi.)	Khadijah Rushdan	United States	Rutgers
2	16	Tyra White	United States	Texas A&M
3	28	April Sykes	United States	Rutgers

Transaction log

• February 1, 2011: The Sparks acquired a second-round pick from the Tulsa Shock as part of the Andrea Riley trade.
• April 11, 2011: The Sparks acquired a second-round pick from the Chicago Sky as part of the Lindsay Widsom-Hylton trade.
• February 1: The Sparks traded Noelle Quinn to the Washington Mystics in exchange for Marissa Coleman. ^[1]
• February 8: The Sparks signed Alana Beard. ^[2]
• February 23: The Sparks traded Natasha Lacy and LaToya Pringle to the Washington Mystics in exchange for Nicky Anosike. ^[3]
• February 23: The Sparks signed Sharnee Zoll.
• March 9: The Sparks signed Ashley Shields. ^[4]
• April 9: The Sparks signed Darxia Morris.
• April 23: The Sparks signed draft picks Khadijah Rushdan and April Sykes.
• April 24: The Sparks signed Rashidat Junaid.
• April 25: The Sparks re-signed Candace Parker to a multi-year contract. ^[5]
• April 26: The Sparks signed draft picks Nneka Ogwumike and Tyra White.
• May 8: The Sparks waived Tyra White and Rashidat Junaid.
• May 15: The Sparks waived Khadijah Rushdan, Ashley Shields, and Darxia Morris.
• June 8: The Sparks signed Coco Miller and waived Sharnee Zoll.
• July 2: The Sparks waived Coco Miller. ^[6]
• July 5: The Sparks signed Andrea Riley.

Trades

Date	Trade
February 1, 2012	To Los Angeles Sparks	To Washington Mystics
	Marissa Coleman	Noelle Quinn
February 23, 2012	To Los Angeles Sparks	To Washington Mystics
	Nicky Anosike	Natasha Lacy and LaToya Pringle

Personnel changes

Additions Player Signed Former team Marissa Coleman February 1, 2012 Washington Mystics Alana Beard February 8, 2012 Washington Mystics Nicky Anosike February 23, 2012 Washington Mystics Nneka Ogwumike April 16, 2012 draft pick April Sykes April 16, 2012 draft pick

Subtractions Player Left New team Noelle Quinn February 1, 2012 Washington Mystics Ticha Penicheiro February 22, 2012 Chicago Sky Natasha Lacy February 23, 2012 Washington Mystics LaToya Pringle February 23, 2012 Washington Mystics Tina Thompson February 24, 2012 Seattle Storm

Roster

Pos.	Starter	Bench
C	Candace Parker	Jantel Lavender
PF	Nneka Ogwumike	Ebony Hoffman Nicky Anosike
SF	Delisha Milton-Jones	Marissa Coleman
SG	Alana Beard	April Sykes Jenna O'Hea
PG	Kristi Toliver

Season standings

Western Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Minnesota Lynx z	27	7	.794	–	16–1	11–6	17–5
Los Angeles Sparks x	24	10	.706	3.0	16–1	8–9	15–7
San Antonio Silver Stars x	21	13	.618	6.0	12–5	9–8	14–8
Seattle Storm x	16	18	.471	11.0	10–7	6–11	11–11
Tulsa Shock o	9	25	.265	18.0	6–11	3–14	5–17
Phoenix Mercury o	7	27	.206	20.0	3–14	4–13	4–18

Schedule

Preseason

2012 Game Log: Preseason (May) Game Date Time (ET) Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 1 Sat 5 7:00 China 98-71 Ogwumike (20) Ogwumike (11) 4 players (5) Pasadena City College 1,073 1-0 2 Thu 10 10:30 Japan 95-77 Ogwumike (17) Lavender Ogwumike (6) Zoll (6) LA Southwest College 950 2-0 3 Sun 13 5:00 @ Seattle 60-61 Coleman (11) Ogwumike (7) Zoll (8) KeyArena 4,628 2-1

Regular season

2012 Game Log: Regular Season
May (4–1) Game Date Time (ET) Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 1 Fri 18 10:00 @ Seattle NBATV KDOC 72-66 Toliver (25) Milton-Jones (7) Toliver (6) KeyArena 9,686 1-0 2 Tue 22 10:30 Seattle KDOC KONG 74-61 Parker (21) Parker (10) Parker Toliver (4) Staples Center 9,238 2-0 3 Thu 24 8:00 @ Minnesota 84-92 Parker Toliver (23) Ogwumike (9) Toliver (4) Target Center 7,923 2-1 4 Sat 26 10:00 @ Phoenix KDOC 99-88 Parker (27) Parker (11) Beard Toliver (4) US Airways Center 10,200 3-1 5 Tue 29 10:30 Tulsa TWC101 76-75 Milton-Jones Toliver (16) Parker (10) Toliver (5) Staples Center 8,312 4-1
June (6-5) Game Date Time (ET) Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 6 Sun 3 8:30 Seattle KDOC KONG 67-65 Toliver (23) Parker (13) Toliver (7) Staples Center 12,639 5-1 7 Fri 8 11:00 Phoenix TWC101 90-74 Ogwumike (25) Ogwumike (12) Toliver (9) Staples Center 11,198 6-1 8 Wed 13 8:00 @ Connecticut ESPN2 87-81 Parker (33) Parker (16) Parker (8) Mohegan Sun Arena 6,058 7-1 9 Fri 15 7:30 @ Atlanta SSO 59-92 Ogwumike (13) Ogwumike (10) Coleman (4) Philips Arena 8,872 7-2 10 Sat 16 8:00 @ San Antonio KDOC FS-SW 85-98 (OT) Beard (23) Parker Lavender (11) Toliver (5) AT&T Center 8,234 7-3 11 Mon 18 10:30 Washington TWC101 101-70 Ogwumike (24) Parker (8) Toliver (6) Staples Center 8,612 8-3 12 Wed 20 10:30 Tulsa TWC101 95-79 Parker (33) Parker (8) Toliver (6) Staples Center 8,388 9-3 13 Sat 23 8:00 @ Phoenix ESPN 93-84 Toliver (29) Lavender (9) Toliver (4) US Airways Center 9,670 10-3 14 Sun 24 8:30 San Antonio KDOC 71-91 Parker (15) Parker (15) Beard (4) Staples Center 11,301 10-4 15 Tue 26 8:00 @ Tulsa 75-91 Toliver (21) Ogwumike Lavender (7) Toliver (7) BOK Center 4,102 10-5 16 Thu 28 12:30 @ San Antonio FS-SW 80-94 Parker (25) Parker (13) Beard (10) AT&T Center 15,184 10-6
July (5–0) Game Date Time (ET) Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 17 Thu 5 3:00 Minnesota NBATV TWC101 96-90 Toliver (29) Parker (13) Toliver (6) Staples Center 11,256 11-6 18 Sat 7 10:00 Seattle ESPN2 83-59 Toliver (23) Parker (14) Parker (7) Staples Center 12,229 12-6 19 Sun 8 8:30 Atlanta NBATV KDOC 79-63 Toliver (19) Parker (12) Beard (7) Staples Center 11,019 13-6 20 Tue 10 3:30 @ Phoenix 90-71 Parker (22) Ogwumike Parker (14) Beard (7) US Airways Center 9,336 14-6 21 Thu 12 7:00 @ Indiana ESPN2 77-74 Ogwumike (22) Ogwumike (20) Toliver (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 7,244 15-6 Summer Olympic break
August (4–1) Game Date Time (ET) Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record Summer Olympic break 22 Sat 18 10:00 @ Seattle NBATV KDOC 82-71 Toliver (22) Parker (12) Toliver (5) KeyArena 9,127 16-6 23 Tue 21 10:30 Indiana TWC101 79-69 Toliver (21) Ogwumike (10) Beard Milton-Jones (5) Staples Center 8,402 17-6 24 Thu 23 10:30 San Antonio TWC101 101-77 Toliver (29) Parker (10) Parker Toliver (6) Staples Center 8,696 18-6 25 Sat 25 10:30 New York NBATV TWC101 87-62 Toliver (29) Ogwumike (7) Ogwumike (5) Staples Center 12,433 19-6 26 Thu 30 8:00 @ Tulsa 85-99 Toliver (21) Milton-Jones (7) Toliver (8) BOK Center 5,275 19-7
September (5–3) Game Date Time (ET) Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 27 Sun 2 6:00 @ Chicago KDOC CN100 74-85 Toliver (19) Parker (9) Ogwumike (6) Allstate Arena 6,197 19-8 28 Tue 4 8:00 @ Minnesota NBATV 77-88 Beard (17) Lavender (8) Toliver (6) Target Center 8,123 19-9 29 Fri 7 7:00 @ Washington CSN-MA 96-68 Parker Toliver (18) Parker (9) Parker (8) Verizon Center 7,468 20-9 30 Sun 9 4:00 @ New York KDOC MSG 71-73 Toliver (17) Parker (15) Toliver (4) Prudential Center 7,357 20-10 31 Thu 13 10:30 Chicago NBATV TWC101 CN100 86-77 Ogwumike (30) Ogwumike (11) Parker (5) Staples Center 8,489 21-10 32 Fri 14 11:00 Connecticut NBATV TWC101 CPTV-S 93-82 Parker (23) Parker (10) Toliver (6) Staples Center 10,503 22-10 33 Tue 18 10:30 Phoenix NBATV TWC101 101-76 Parker (26) Parker (11) Parker (7) Staples Center 8,579 23-10 34 Thu 20 10:30 Minnesota NBATV TWC101 92-76 Ogwumike Parker (22) Ogwumike Parker (11) Toliver (8) Staples Center 10,217 24-10
All games are viewable on WNBA LiveAccess or ESPN3.com

Postseason

2012 Game Log: Postseason
Western Conference Semifinals Game Date Time (ET) Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Series 1 September 27 10:00 San Antonio ESPN2 93-86 Toliver (29) Parker (9) Beard (3) Galen Center 5,013 1-0 2 September 29 3:00 @ San Antonio NBATV 101-94 Parker (32) Parker (9) Parker (6) Freeman Coliseum 5,293 2-0
Western Conference Finals Game Date Time (ET) Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Series 1 October 4 8:00 @ Minnesota ESPN2 77-94 Parker (25) Parker (11) Parker (4) Target Center 8,513 0-1 2 October 7 3:30 Minnesota ABC 79-80 Parker (33) Parker (15) Beard (7) Staples Center 10,791 0-2

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG

References

1. Wang, Gene (February 1, 2012). "Washington Mystics trade Marissa Coleman to Los Angeles Sparks for Noelle Quinn". The Washington Post . Retrieved February 21, 2024.
2. "Sparks sign 4-time WNBA All-Star Alana Beard". The San Diego Union-Tribune . February 8, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
3. Giannotto, Mark (February 23, 2012). "Mystics trade Nicky Anosike to Los Angeles for two role players". The Washington Post . Retrieved February 21, 2024.
4. "L.A. Sparks sign Ashley Shields to training camp contract". Sports Illustrated . March 9, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
5. "Parker agrees to multi-year extension with Sparks". Los Angeles Daily News . April 25, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
6. "Sparks waive Coco Miller". ESPN . July 2, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2024.